For a Seeker there is always Progress

August 16, 2013 Comments Off on For a Seeker there is always Progress

Harih Om Tat Sat. I have your letter, undated, before me. I have read all that you say about your disciplines, spiritual saadhana and its setback. You have also spoken about the need for professional studies, and the difficulties in the pursuit.

Whether you like it or not, our birth is into this world, and the life thereafter is also here. Can anything change or invalidate this fact? Do not therefore condemn or dislike life at any time. Whatever you have to acquire, correct, improve or perfect has to be done in and through your life in this world. So the world is a friend, not an enemy. You are of the world and the world is of you. There is a close weddedness between the two.

In the name of saadhana, you should not resent or hate or get repelled from anything or any one. World always consists of dvandvas (pairs of opposites). That means there will be good people and bad ones too; favourable situations and unfavourable too. This mixture is there in the larger circles around, and in the closer ones also. Even in your family, you may have good and bad members. Get still closer, and see what is there in your own personality. In the body as well as in the mind, there will be likable and dislikable factors. The law is the same.

The whole spiritual effort is to recognize these dvandvas for what they are worth, to utilize them for deriving the enrichment, elevation and fulfillment you look for. Yes, spirituality is the skill and art of achieving this, despite whatever one is, has been or will be.

Interest in saadhana may dwindle at times, and also grow at other times. That too is the play of dvandvas. Despite all this, the abiding interest in spirituality will prevail. For, it is born of an assessment, an evaluation and a determination. The first two are facts and judgements, while the last is a quality.

You see a white flower and call it white. In the same way, you find and call the world transient or ephemeral. For anyone, however great and joyful he is, the world is still transient. Work on this ephemerality, and it will intensify your spiritual interest. This process is inward. It can underscore all your interactions and the outcomes they bring about.

The discrimination about ephemerality of the world is a complement to your activities in the world. In fact, only when it becomes so, the undue attachment and involvement of the mind will be checked first, sublimated next, and then give rise to the dispassional enrichment. When you reflect deeply, you will realize the subtlety of the process.

I do not want you to feel tense, distasteful or indifferent to your surroundings in the name of saadhana. On the other hand, you should become sharper, keener and wholesome every time.

For further studies, if you can make it to a good School, very well. If not, try the next best. Are all people equally first graders? Is there no place for the second and the rest? Here is where ambition and misjudgement work their havoc.

Remember: You will always get what you rightly deserve.

Also: What you are getting is what you deserve.

This should be your attunement in all matters. It will make your mind stronger, deeper, loftier and more stable and harmonious. Anxiety should not vitiate your thoughts or performances. Be sure and firm. Even-mindedness, poise and stability are qualities that everyone aspires for. Do not feel you are bad on these accounts. For a seeker, there is always progress – no decline, any time.
– Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
[An excerpt from Poojya Swamiji’s correspondence with a seeker, that was published in the Sep 2009 issue of Vicharasethu.]http://www.SwamiBhoomanandaTirtha.org